


Angel Eyed Redneck

by Blaizey21



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Adult Content, Angst, Blood, F/M, First Time, Fluff, Gore, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Innocence, Lust, Major Character Injury, Romance, Sexual Content, Smut, Swearing, Triggers, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:41:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23388946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaizey21/pseuds/Blaizey21
Summary: Tessa Carter has been alone since the beginning of the outbreak. She had an okay life before the apocalypse but she always felt alone even around people. Will Daryl be able to let Tessa in and make her feel like she's not alone for once in her life? Will Tessa be able to trust that Daryl won't leave her like everyone she lets in eventually does?
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Running, that's all I seemed to do these days. Always running from something, eaither from flesh eating monsters or from the evil people that the new world has corrupted.

The apocalypse started about 2 months ago, I think. I've been on my own this entire time, going from tree to tree or house to house just trying to find some place to hold up for more then a few days. Trying to find other people to survive with.

I had this weird feeling in my gut that today was going to be different, that today was going to be a good day and something really good was going to happen to me, but that was highly unlikely in a world like this. There were never any good days really anymore it was eaither your killed or you live to survive another day.

I was currently walking through the woods with my pretty much empty backpack on my back trying to find somewhere to hold up for the night. It's about an hour from sunfall and I would really prefer to not sleep in a tree tonight, I need to get at least a few good hours of sleep so I can go scavenge for food and water tomorrow. I haven't eaten in 2 days and have barley any water left.

I'm quickly brought out of my thoughts when I hear restling of leaves and tree branches breaking and I stop dead in my tracks, quickly raising my gun. It sounds like footsteps and... talking?.. Like actual people talking, I must be hearing things. I still manage to get a slight smile on my face suddenly having hope that there might be people out here. I have to remind myself that I still need to be carfull, not everyone is friendly expecially in this new world.

I slowly creep forward with my gun still raised. I'm about to step out of the trees when a voice stops me. "Hey, who the hell are you?" A voice yells from my right causing me to quickly spin around and point my gun at the man. He had dark brown curly hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a green shirt that said 'Sheriff' in the corner.

I decide to just keep my mouth shut and let him make the first move as more people appear behind him. A man in a Sheriffs uniform, a black man and a Asian man that looked only a few years older then me.

The man in the Sheriffs uniform lowers his gun and takes a step torward me. "I'm Rick Grimes, put your gun down" He asks calmly. I glance behind him to see the black man and the Asian man have already lowered their weapons and now it's just the curly haired man pointing his gun at me.

I slowly lower my gun tucking it into the waistband of my jeans. "What's your name?" Rick asks softly, trying not to scare me off. "Tessa Carter" I mumble reajusting my backpack on my shoulders. The curly haired man timidly lowers his gun and I start to relax a little no longer feeling the pressure of having a gun pointed at my head.

"You have a group?" Rick asks. He's just full of questions. I simply shake my head 'no'.

"How old are you Tessa?" He asks "18" I mumble. Rick looks behind him toward what I can tell is a camp fire surround by people, he's probably contemplating if he should allow me to join in his group.

"Would you like to join our group?" Rick asks gently, looking back at me.

I look around and contemplate my decison. They have several tents set up and fires blazing. I can see 2 children and many women sitting around a fire pit, it looks safe and the people look friendly enough.

I turn my attention back to Rick "Yeah, Thank you" I say showing him a soft simple smile. Rick smiles back and turns to the men behind him. "This is Shane" He says pointing to the curly haired man. "This is T-Dog" pointing to the black man. "This is Glenn" Pointing to the Asian man.

I simply smile and nod and Rick leads me over to their camp where he introduces me to the rest of the group. Lori who is Ricks wife, Carl his son. Carol and her daughter Sofia. Andrea, who I learned just recently lost her sister. Dale an older man who owned the RV.

It looked like everyone was just finishing eating dinner and my stomach growled at the smell of food, but I didn't want to be rude and ask for any. I can wait till they offer some.

After I got introduced to everyone, people started to head off to bed and I realized I had nowhere to sleep, so I went to find Rick. I see him standing by the campfire and I walk up to him. "Hey Tessa" Rick greets, before I can even get my mouth open to speak. "Hey Rick, uh.. where can I sleep?" I ask quietly, looking at my feet.

Rick looks around the camp and then back at me. "Well everyone's tents are filled up as well as the RV, but I can ask Daryl if he can share his tent with you" I give him a confused look, I thought I met everyone. "Daryl?" I question arching my eyebrowl.

"Yeah come with me... He can be a little rude just to warn you." He says heading toward a tent father away from the rest of the camp. Great now I'm going to have to deal with an asshole I thought.

As we get closer I see the glow of a small fire and a man with his back toward us. Rick clears his throat as we come up to the small campsite and I hear Daryl just grunt in response, not even bothering to turn around to see who we were.

"Daryl this is Tessa" Rick announces, making the man called Daryl turn his head toward us. Finally letting me get a good look at him and I'm taken back. I didnt expect him to look like this, he has short light brown hair that was wild & messy, beautiful Georgian blue eyes that you could probably see from a mile away, and a little gotee. He was wearing a sleevless flannel button up shirt that showed off his toned muscles very nicely. All in all he was very handsome.

Daryl glances at me for a few seconds and I feel weird under his gaze. He just grunts and turns his attention back to the fire. Well thanks for the warm welcome asshole.

"There is no room for her to sleep anywhere other then uh.. in your tent... Could she stay with you?" Rick rambles out quickly, dreading his reaction.

Daryl suddenly stands up making me take a few steps backward as he faces Rick and I. He squints his eyes at me then at Rick, then quickly walks off toward the forest with a crossbow over his shoulder. I rolled my eyes and follwed him, wanting an answer. He's gonna learn real quick that I'm not going to put up with his bullshit. "What the hell does that mean?" I speak up from close behind him. "I don't care" He grunts and continues walking. "So yes?" I ask, still unclear of his answer. "Damn girl, sleep in my tent or sleep in the fucking dirt I don't give a shit." He yells. I sigh at his outburst and watch him venture off farther into the woods.

I walk out of the forest and to where I left Rick standing. "Well I guess I'm sleeping in the moody Rednecks tent" I grumble walking over to the tent door.

Rick chuckles slightly "Hey Tessa, do you have any other weapons on you or just the gun?" He asks quietly. "Just the gun" I reply taking the gun out of my waistband and holding it out to him, assuming him wants it since he probably doesn't trust me yet. He shakes his head and pushes the gun back to me. "Keep it, but if we see you as a threat we will take that gun" He warns. I nod my head, undertanding completly, he has his family and this group to protect.

"Goodnight Tesaa" Rick calls walking away to the main part of camp. I don't reply as I unzip the tent to see a mess of clothes all over the tent floor. I sighed and walk into the messy tent setting my bag in the corner away from the sleeping bag. I pile up all the clothes and neatly set them at the end of Daryls sleeping bag.

I pull out my blanket from my backpack and lay it on the ground across from Daryls sleeping bag. I slip my boots off setting them by my backpack and crawl under my very thin blanket. I'm going to need to find a new blanket soon. The summer's in Georgia are very hot but the night's get pretty cold and this blanket really isn't doing it's job anymore.

I get situated under my blanket just as I hear the tent began to uzip and I quickly snap my eyes closed so it looked like I had already fell asleep. I don't really feel like getting yelled at again tonight. The tent zips back up and I hear him grunt and I assume he sat down. I turn around on my side with my back facing him trying to get comfortable. About 15 minutes later I fall asleep thinking about the asshole Redneck with the beautiful blue eyes and hoping we can get along. 


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up to noises coming from inside the tent and I snap my eyes open to see Daryl standing by the tent door holding clothes in his hands. 

"Here, Lori said they might be your size." He mumbles handing me the clothes. I happly take them and give him a soft smile. "Thank you." 

"Get dressed your helping Carol wash clothes" He grunts going to walk out of the tent. "The short haired lady?" I ask making sure I don't walk up to the wrong person. Daryl nods and zips up the tent leaving me to get ready for the day. Maybe today will be different than yesterday and he won't be a complete asshole. 

I slip on the clean clothes Daryl gave me and they fit pretty good. The jeans are a little too big but my belt will fix that problem and the shirt fits perfectly. I tie my boots and tuck my gun into the waistband of the jeans. I grab my dirty clothes and head out to find Carol. 

I find Carol hanging clothes to dry on a clothes line and she gives me a welcoming smile. "Hi there, you have clothes for me to wash I see" She says with a warm smile. "Yes, but actually I was planning on helping you wash clothes today." I tell her, returning the smile. I assumed she knew I was helping her today but I guess not. 

"Oh, well in that case you can help me hang these up to dry, then we can go down to the quarry and finish washing these clothes." She says pointing to a dirty looking pile of clothes. 

I nod my head and set my clothes in the pile and began clipping wet clothes to the clothes line. 

We work in silence for a while until Rick walks over to us. "Good morning" He greets, giving us a smile. "Tessa have you eaten yet?" He asks. I shake me head and continue helping Carol. "Well there's some breakfast over there by the fire, go ahead and eat" He says walking off. I look over at Carol not wanting to leave her to do this all by herself. 

She takes the shirt out of my hand and hangs it up for me. "Go eat, I can do this" 

"I don't want to make you do this by yourself" I say picking up another item of clothing. "There's only a few left, I'm fine. You go eat and then you can meet me down by the quarry. How does that sound?" She smiles, her mother instinct kicking in. "Thank you Carol. I'll eat quick." I give her a smile and walk over to the small campfire where Rick said the food would be.

I make myself a small plate of meat and sit down in an old camping chair. I eat my food as I listen to the quite chatter of T-Dog and Glenn who are still eating their breakfest as well.

I quickly finish my breakfest and go to find Carol down by the quarry. I grab the extra washborad that's laying by the clothes line and walk down the trail to the water. Carol and Lori are sitting on buckets with wash boards in their laps. I quiestly sit on the extra bucket next to Lori and get to work. 

"Tessa you were still in high school right?" Lori asks out of nowhere. I raise my eyebrows at her, confused on what that has to do with anything. 

"Yeah, why?" I quiestion. "I was actually wondering if you could help Carl with his schooling. I figured you probably know more than I do and could teach him in a better way. If you don't want to I understand, don't feel like you have too" Lori states.

Why the fuck does that even matter anymore, none of that stuff is going to help him survive this new world. I guess I can understand that she might have some hope that the world will go back to the way it used to be and if that happens he will need to know the things school teaches but that's highly unlikely. 

"I can do that. I can start whenever you want me to" I say giving her a slight smile. I've always loved kids and I liked the idea of being able to work with Carl and be around him more. 

"How about after we're finished with this?" Lori asks. "That's fine. What is he working on?" I ask, hoping it's not math or science. I was horrible at math, I didn't understand any of it. 

"Multiplacation and divison" She tells me. Of course it just had to be fucking math, at least I can actually do those.   
I just nod my head and get back to washing clothes, hoping it's not hard multiplication. 

We finally are finished washing clothes and now we just have to hang them to dry and we will be finished for the day, then I can go help Carl with his math. 

We're heading up the hill when we see Shane walking toward us. "Hey ladies, Rick just made an annoucment, were leaving tomorrow morning early. Have your bags packed and ready." He tells us.

"Where are we going?" Lori asked concerned. "Were just leaving, we need to get out of here and stay alive." With that he walks away back toward camp. 

I know I don't have any say in this at all but I don't think this is the right choice. It might not be the safest place to be right now but were not in imediate danger. Just packing up and leaving without a destination in not a good thing to do, but I don't have a say in this. I'm new and don't know the group well enough to make decisons for everyone. Rick seems to be the leader so I guess we all just have to follow his judgement. 

We get back to the camp and start hanging wet clothes up to dry once again. Lori calls Carl over and tells him to bring his school books with him. 

"Honey, Tessa here agreed to help you with your studies. She was in high school before all this and can teach you better than I can. Go set up your books over at the table and Tessa will be over soon." She tells the little blue eyed boy. 

Carl runs off to the small table that's set up near the RV and I smile. I hang up a few more articles of clothing and walk over to Carl. 

"Hey Carl." I smile at him. "Hi" He says quietly, blushing slightly. I giggle quietly at his shyness and bind down next to him so I can see what he's working on. "Your mom wants you to get 20 of these done. We can do that right?" I ask, looking over the problems he has already done. 

"I'm not very good at it" he mumbled, looking down at his hands. "That's okay, I'll help you." I tell him, pointing to a problem and watching him get started. 

About an hour later Carl is finished and he did pretty good. He only asked for my help a few times, he is really good at math. 

"Good job Carl" I priase him and he gives me a big smile. "Let's go eat" I say motioning to the fire. It's already starting to get dark and I'm surprised the day went by so fast. Normally they went by so slow these days. 

I haven't seen Daryl all day and I'm not sure if we just haven't crossed paths yet today or he left. I'm not sure why but I'm beggining to worry about him. Daryls different than most people, I get this weird vibe from him but a good weird vibe. I think if he would just be nice we could be good friends, but that means I have to be able to let him in first and that may take a while. Ive always had problems trusting people but I think it might be different with Daryl. I have a feeling that we have more things in common than I think.

Lori hands me a small portion of food and I thank her and dig in. This meat taste so good, I dont know if it's just because I haven't eaten in a while or it actually is good. 

"What kind of meat is this?" I ask Lori. She chuckles and I raise my eyebrows in confusion. "Its squirrel" She chuckles. I look at her with wide eyes and everyone chuckles. I quickly go back to normal, not liking all the attention. 

There's rustling in the bushes and Daryl walks out with his crossbow over his shoulder and several squirrels hanging from his belt, he must have went hunting. I let out a sigh of relief, happy he is okay. 

Daryl walks off to his tent, well I guess it's our tent now. I quickly finish eating and start walking to my tent when I'm stopped by a voice. 

"Hey Tessa, wait up a minute" Shane calls, running to catch up to me. I turn around to face him and instantly become uncomfortable under his gaze. Shane gives me this weird feeling, a bad feeling at that. I know for a fact that i dont trust him and I sure as hell dont want to be alone with him. I decide not to answer and just look at him waiting for him to contiue. 

"I know your sharing a tent with Daryl but my tent is always open if you get tired of him" He offers, looking my body up and down. "I'm f-fine Shane." I stammered. Shane lets his eyes linger too long in certain places and he licks his lips. I take that as my cue to leave and hurry off to the tent not even bothering to hear his reply.

I walk inside to see Daryl laying on his back on his sleeping bag with his hands behind his head. I zip the tent up behind me and take off my boots, then lay down on my blanket. 

I glance over at Daryl and see him already looking at me. As soon as he relizes I caught him starting he snaps his eyes away from me and clears his throat. 

I get a smirk on my face as I climb under my blanket trying to get warm. I really want to start a conversation with Daryl but I don know how. I was never one to start a conversation. I wasn't really a big people person which meant I didn't talk to people all that much, but for some reason I wanted to talk to Daryl. I don't know what it was about him but I wanted to learn more. 

All you can hear was the zipping of other tents as people head in for the night and the sound of my teeth chattering due to the cold air. 

I feel something being put over me and I turn my head to seeing Daryl laying another small blanket on me. I get a small smile on my face when he glances down at me. I glance over at his makeshift bed and see he doesn't have a blanket, just a sleeping bag. "Daryl you don't have a blanket" I say, stating the obvious. "Your gonna get cold" I say, going to grab the blanket off of me and hand it back to Datyl. He place his hand on my wrist and stops me. My entire body instantly going warm just by his touch. I don't know if he felt that but I sure as hell did. 

"I have my sleeping bag. Your cold, take it." He mumbles, taking back his hand and laying back on his sleeping bag. "Thank you Daryl, for letting me sleep in here and for the blanket" I say giving him a smile. "Its nothin" He grunts. 

Maybe Daryl isn't all that bad

I shake my head and bring my blankets up to my chest and snuggle into them. 

"Goodnight Daryl" I mumble, sleeply.   
"Night"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Hope you enjoy


	3. Chapter 3

"Listen up! We have limited space for travel, so I made seating arrangements. Lori, Carl, Carol, Sofia and I are taking Carols Cherokee. Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog and Dale are in the RV. Shane is in his Jeep. Daryl and Tessa in his truck." Rick announced looking at everyone. 

Daryl was over at his truck securing him motorcycle in the bed. He probably didn't hear Ricks announcement and I hope to God he doesn't get mad. I hated when people yelled at me.

Daryl had actually been pretty nice to me this morning. He woke me up by gently shaking my shoulder and while I was getting ready for the day he brought me some breakfest. He might seem like an asshole and he is, but he has a good heart and I just need to learn to let him in as well. 

I walk over to Daryl's truck and set my bag on the seat. "What are you doin?" Daryl asks, walking over to me. "Uh... Rick said I was riding with you." I mumble looking down at my feet. "Get in the truck then. I'm gonna put the tent in the back then we'll get the hell outta here." He says walking away to get the tent. 

That went way better than I expected. I figured he would eaither yell at me or just give me a grunt and walk away. It kinda sounded like he wanted me to ride with him, like he wasn't bothered by it. 

Jumping into Daryl's truck I pulled my legs close to me. He got in the truck and rolled his window down. Pulling away out of our once safe camp. I look out the window as I start to think about everything that has happened since the world went to shit, I let a tear roll down my face. 

I hated this, I didn't like living with no safety. For the last 2 months I ran for my life everyday, barley surviving. When I came to this group just 2 days ago, I finally felt safe and I had hope that I would survive this and live again. Not just survive I mean like really live, Be able to smile and laugh and make good memories. But that was all ripped away from me once again. I was back to not feeling safe and not having a place to settle down at night, but the only difference was that I was no longer alone and I'm so thankful for that because I don't know if I could go through this alone once again. 

"You okay?" Daryl asked tapping my arm. I didn't answer as I just looked down at my hands. "Look at me" He says softly. That's the softest I've ever heard his voice go and I have to admit I love it. I turned my head and put on a fake smile. "Whats wrong?" He asks gently placing his hand on my shoulder. 

"W-we're not safe anywhere. I'm right back to where I started, I thought I got away from that but I didnt. I can't do that again." I mumbled, a few tears falling down my face. "Hey, ain't nothin gonna happen to you. Don't get all suicidal on me, you ain't goin no where." I laugh "Why's that?" I smirk. "Cause'" He grunts. I was trying to get him to admit he cares about me but obviously it was going to take a little more effort on my part.

I giggle and glance over at him to see him smirking. He looks good with a smirk on his perfect face. '"Oh okay" I giggle again. 

It silent for a few minute before I speak up "Do you know where were headed?" I wonder, hoping Rick came up with a desination. "Just drivin" Daryl grunts. 

I sigh and scoot down in my seat leaning my head against the window. "Wonderful" I say, sarcasim thick in my voice.  
\------------------------------------------------------------  
I must have dozed off because when I open my eyes again were pulled over on the side of the highway. I glance over at Daryl and he's grabbing his crossbow to get out of the truck. 

"What's going on?" I mumble, sitting up in my seat. "Don't know. Stay in the truck and lock the doors" He tells me climbing out of the truck and locking his door. 

I can take care of myself but I figured right now it's better to listen to him since we both don't know what's going on yet. 

I watch him walk over to the RV and talk to Shane and Rick. 

Out of the corner of my eye I see moving in the bushes and I glance back over at Daryl to see if they heard and they did. They already have there weapons pointed torward the noise. 

I could see some shadows in the trees as well and soon 3 men walked out of the woods. Rick, Shane, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl all stepped closer to the men to see what they wanted. 

"How many you got?" A man from the other group asked. "Too many for you to handle" Shane smirked.

The group of strangers looked like the kind I people you wanted to stay away from at all costs. They looked like some backwood crazies. 

I slowly opened the truck door, wanting to help if nessasary. I leaned down and went to grab my gun off the floor of the truck when I was grabbed by the arm and felt a cold barrel of a gun on my head. 

The man roughly leads me over to the rest of his group and his group chuckles lightly. "Ye' get yer' hands off of her!" Daryl yelled pointing his crossbow at the man. 

I could feel the wetness of my tears rolling down my face. "Its okay baby" The man said, rubbing his hand on my jean clad thigh. 

I thought fast and lifted my leg kicking as hard as I could in the knee. He screamed in pain and let go of me, falling to the ground. I ran torward Daryl as fast as I could and when I got to him I gripped on to his shirt for dear life. Daryl put his hands on my back and gently moved me behind him. 

"That's a nice piece of ass you got there" The man told Daryl. "You best shut the fuck up" Daryl spat back at the men. 

"Now!" I hear Rick whisper and shots were fired. I watched as the men fell to the ground. One dead and the other 3 only injured. 

Rick and Glenn gathered all there supplies and left them there to bleed out or get eaten. We wouldn't help them, there were not the kind of men we wanted around any of us. 

Daryl gently leads me back to the truck as I cryed into his chest and held on for dear life. "I thought I told ya' to stay in the truck" Daryl said slamming his door shut and locking them both. "I was going to but I wanted to help if I needed to" I cried, realizing how stupid I was. Daryl leans over and gently grab my wrist holding it up to his face. "Son of a bitch left a bruise" He grunts, softly running his thumb over the bruise. I didn't really enjoy people touching me but with Daryl I didn't mind all that much. 

Soon we were back on the road but only for an hour or so because it was getting dark and people were getting tired. We would rest for the night  
and leave at Dawn. Rick said that tomorrow before we head out a few of us would go and look for gas since we're running low.

"Let's all turn in. We need to be up before the sun tomorrow. Goodnight." I hear Rick tell everyone. I didn't get out of the truck when we stoped. I was still freaked out about what happened earlier with that group. 

I leaned my back against the door and pulled me knees to my chest, sitting sideways in the seat. Currently wishing this truck had a back seat so I could stretch out my legs. Daryl opens the truck door and climbs in locking his door back up. 

Daryl glances at me and grabs his bag off the floor. He takes out a blanket and sets it in his lap. Daryl gently places his hand on my knee causing me to flinch. He quickly takes his hand back and looks up at me. 

"Its okay Daryl." I reassure him, fininching was just something I did when someone touched me, it had nothing to do with him. 

He nods his head once and tried again. He gently grabs the back of my legs and lays them across his lap. He unfolds the blanket and placed it over us. 

"Thank you." I whisper. Daryl grunts in response and I sigh. 

"Do you think we're going to find a place to stay?" I mumble, wanting to hear what he thinks about the situation. "I don' know." He grunts, glancing at me. 

"Were never going to be safe out here. We need to find a place." I state matter of factly. "What did I tell you earlier?" He demands, fully looking at me now. I shrug my shoulders not knowing what he's wanting me to say. "I said that nothin is gonna happen to you and I mean it Tessa." He tells me sternly, pointing his index finger at me. 

That's the first time he's said my name and it sounds so beautiful coming off his lips. "Okay Daryl" I whisper, not being able to take my eyes off of him. 

"Get some sleep we got a long day tomorrow." Daryl mumbled, placing his hand on my leg, once again I flinch but he keeps his hand there knowing it's not his fault. "Goodnight Daryl" I whisper closing my eyes. 

"Night sweetheart"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think of the book so far


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